Tuesday, July 5, 2011

TV Police: Sprint Cup Series From Daytona On TNT

After Danica Patrick made a splash on Friday night, it's only fitting to assign the Sprint Cup Series investigation to Marybeth Lacey and Christine Cagney. These two female detectives did not mess around when it came to crimes committed in Manhattan's 14th precint in 1982.

The persistent nature of these two ladies is going to be key. Daytona was again the scene of a non-stop tandem extravaganza of racing. It was different than what fans have come to know and never featured a big pack racing together until the end. Even then, it was all tag-team action until the checkered flag.

Alexander certainly was vocal as the race got underway, but things settled down as several teams faded to the back and everyone found their dance partners. It was tough to watch nothing happening for many laps but TNT kept the energy level up and focused on the teams running at the front.

Pit road reporters were Matt Yocum, Chris Neville, Marty Snider and Ralph Sheheen. They had a tough task as many of the two car teams that came into pit were teams assigned to two different pit road reporters. It made for some interesting descriptions of what was going on.

These top teams has planned for this race and left TNT often with nothing to discuss. Petty was great at talking about all kinds of topics as the tandems rolled by lap-after-lap. Dallenbach just seemed to be amused by it all.

In the end, the clumsy two car trains began colliding and once again we saw a caution flag provide the excitement at the finish. The big wreck on the first green-white-checker attempt was foolish looking. TNT had every replay and all of them made the teams look like amateurs.

Such is the world of restrictor plate racing in the final laps. We have seen it with big packs and now we see it with the tandem racing. Ultimately, the results are the same. In the end, the race to the line was another crash-fest as we saw on Saturday. If this is what NASCAR wants, then they have it.

Post-race consisted of multiple interviews that included the winner and those crashed-out in the final lap. TNT had about twenty minutes and the network stayed on and interviewed the relevent drivers. It was the second week of good post-race choices by TNT. The telecast ended at 10:50PM.

This post will serve to host your TV comments about the TNT coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Daytona. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. Thank you for taking the time to stop by and share your opinion.

36 comments:

Jonathan
said...

CELEBRATE UPS IS IN VICTORY LANE AT DAYTONA!!!!! David got his secound chance and he does it so happy for him he deserves this!!! It wasnt a fluke finish the best 2 car team won and the was David and Kenseth and its nice to Kenseth be such a great teamate that was a good race I had a lot more fun today than I did yesterday I had race buddy on alot so I was into it the whole race I wish Nascar didnt have to wait till 2014 to get this for all races its a shame cause its brings me so much closer to the tv cause I can have both on Love it

The "race" was a terrible example of NASCAR's manipulation and micromanagent of what was once great sport that has been turned into Professional Wrestling on wheels. TNT provided great camera work but the booth was unable to provide meaningful explanations as to what was going on. I never did understand what went on during the GWCs. I also felt that the drivers had been warned to play nice when they were interviewed after the race. It all seemed so fake and programmed.

As in years past, the Wide Open Coverage sets the standard for how NASCAR should be televised. We barely miss any of the visuals during the in-telecast commercials, and TNT does it right be making sure that we get good camera shots during the commercials. This is a major improvement over Fox's side-by-side breaks where they would continue their follow-the-leader game.

The camera shots were naturally superb during the rest of the telecast, as well. On the booth side of things, however, Adam Alexander still doesn't fit the play-by-play role. IMO, the exciting finish was somewhat tarnished by the awkward way he called the wrecks and Ragan's first win.

Just as we've been calling for Bestwick to take over on ESPN, I think Ralph Sheheen would be the better choice for the TNT booth. Like Bestwick, Sheheen knows how to manage the play-by-play role and add excitement when needed (exciting finishes) while toning it down in situations where the analysts should be speaking.

Overall, though, TNT is the best of the bunch right now, but there is still room for improvement. TNT still hasn't done as good of a job as they did at Pocono yet, which is strange. I'd love to see more consistently solid reporting and follow-ups throughout the entire race.

TNT did the best they could with barely any storylines. The camerawork was solid all night long. Like you said, the booth found important things to discuss. Alexander wasn't overwhelmed and avoided a Sonoma repeat. Petty was pretty good. He had a few rambling moments and a slam on the #51 sponsor that wasn't necessary. The interaction between the three is still off though.

TNT left a few stories untold, such as Jimmie Johnson pitting with under 5 to go. Yocum offered little in his report and Petty guessed Johnson had a tire problem. Turns out he just wanted to be with teammate Jeff Gordon. There can not be another repeat of the 47/66 wreck at Sonoma that had no follow-up and forced Michael McDowell to explain his story to thousands of angry fans on twitter.

The post-race provided plenty of interviews, but they consisted of one basic question and a quick response. Snider rushing Kyle Busch's interview was a little awkward. I don't know what the rush was for, since there were 10 minutes left in the broadcast window.

That was a great broadcast. It had some issues, like the fact that they never showed anyone but the leader, but the 60+ laps of non stop commercial free green flag racing was phenomenal. Cant thank TNT enough for that. It was a shame they couldnt broadcast all the green flag laps but they did the best they could. That to me was the best broadcast of the year. AA was solid, Wally and Kyle were on their game. The pit reporters were the ones that didnt step up to the plate tonight. Never thought Id say that but they had problems handing off to the next reporter during pit stops and the Victory Lane interview went way long. Matt's interview took 20 seconds and Kyle Busch just ran over Matt Yocum during theirs. Anyway I really shouldnt complain I got to see all but 5 laps of green flag racing tonight and Im really pleased with that. Best broadcast of the year. Kudos TNT

I thought the TNT broadcast was excellent. They handle their races eloquently and as others have said the "Wide Open Coverage" is definitely the way to broadcast a NA$CAR race. I particularly enjoyed the part of the pre-race where they told who were already known tandems. TNT did what they could with an awkward style of racing.

The tandems are simply no better for eliminating big crashes than the big packs were. I believe it will be interesting to see how ESPN handles this style of racing at Talladega. Fox did not handle it well and they had 2 shots at it; they chose to take the rah-rah NA$CAR company line with their broadcast. TNT presented it as it was. Now ESPN gets their shot.

I could only watch the race via RB over a pretty slow Internet connection, and I was miffed when the video player decided the connection was momentarily good enough to up the video quality, which jumped the feed forward about ten seconds and inevitably led to a big buffering pause five seconds later, at which point I'd just reload the page.

I had other obligations near the finish, so I tried to pause RB on lap 158 and resumed maybe an hour later, so as to watch the finish without spoilers.When I hit play, the feed went back to the beginning of the broadcast. I clicked on the helpful highlights on the bottom, at which point the player decided to bump up the video quality, skipping past the highlight and then pausing. I looked up the results elsewhere on the site. Luckily, my situation is not one I think I'll be in anytime soon.

Given how I watched the broadcast, there's little else I can comment, except that the entire NASCAR media abso-friggin-lutely LOVES the story that David Ragan lost the Daytona 500 on that restart, like it was a done deal that he would have won it otherwise.

This will be the last time I watch an entire NASCAR race live this yr. Could not take the FOX & ESPN *&%^$&# camera work. Waste of my time, esp at the end!!

The booth disappointed me at times but the great wide camera work kept me from griping on that.

Still, I ditto Osbornk's comments. Also the multiple GWC always annoys & I never found out what happened at the end. Soon after the race was over I got a phone call from a friend & yakked to him for 2 hours, so never did find out who all wrecked in the big one.

First off, congrats to David Ragan on his first win. Kid was going to win before long, but ran a good race.

Second, this 2-car tango is getting boring to watch. I was almost falling asleep around lap 50. I never fall asleep during a Daytona race, however, that was actually boring. I actually cheered when we had the 15 car wreck! For a minute, it was Daytona of old!

I was actually getting more confused with what was going on during the race as well because Wally and Kyle kept trying to explain what was going on. Kyle Petty is not that good of a commentator. People are harping on Adam Alexander and Marty Reid being bad, but KP isn't that good either. TNT really needs to figure out a new commentating team for their races in 2012 because this one doesn't work.

A previous poster nailed it with their comment that TNT really left a lot of storylines untold. I didn't watch their post race on the internet, but more reactions to the melee on the last lap? No interviews after the big wreck? No comment from Nemechek, Mears, Cassill, or anyone else who had a heck of a finish, and then ruined because of the wrecks during the GWC finish? No word from Carl Edwards, who apparently was getting sick from his own car, which was mentioned on the 3rd caution where we barely got a replay of Blaney wrecking? And no word from Junior, who took to ESPN to bash the 2-car tango drafting? And what ever happened to Geoff Bodine? One moment he was up to 15th or a top-10 and then during one of those promos he was down to 35th and off the track.

However, the Wide Open coverage is awesome. You barely miss anything on the track, unless you get 103 laps of green flag racing and your local network begs for a quick :30 timeout to air something for them. The one thing that annoys me is that every 5 minutes, you have a promo promoting something different, or two straight commercials promoting the same company. NASCAR should really look into something like this for their big races and not just the Coke Zero 400.

Indeed Zetona. I do believe that Sterling Marlin cost himself a win in the 2002 Daytona 500 when he get penialized. David Ragan in 2011 on the other hand.. he just gave up his lottery ticket for a chance to win at the end.

Most of my problems with this race had to do with the on-track product. However, on the media front...

1. Wide Open coverage is highly appreciated.

2. More people would be on the warpath against Adam Alexandar if they didn't already know what is coming soon with Marty "Coffin in the Nail" Reed.

3. Follow-up on many stories and issues during the race was abysmal.

4. The pit reporter talking furiously about the 43 but failing to notice that the car wasn't leaving the pits.

5. Cheers to Kyle Petty for calling out a sponsor that cost its driver valuable practice time.

6. Jeers to Kyle Petty for repeating his view on that issue multiple times before letting anybody talk about anything else.

Indirectly on the media...

7. Epic fail on Darrell Waltrip for making a Twitter "tweet" during the middle of the race inferring that NASCAR should throw a phantom yellow. In addition to many other reasons, not a good move on a superspeedway coming from the man that for years now has been pounding into our heads that cautions breed cautions.

Finally...

8. Jeers to me for breaking my promise to myself to not watch anymore of this love-bug style so-called racing.

Great broadcast. Too bad we couldn't get all green flag laps in with the few cautions we had tonight. This race is certainly going in the "How to Broadcast a NASCAR Race" playbook.

One camera angle I found interesting was in turn 4. Due to a combination of the camera angle and the steep Daytona Banking, a Coke Zero 400 logo painted on the grass looked like a display standing up. Good advertising job there.

I liked the in car they had with Tony Stewart. This was a good angle-it showed what the drivers saw. I would rather have this angle every week then the ones we see of the driver during a crash.

I did think that TNT missed one by not explaining the green-white-checker procedure at the end. Yes, regular fans know this one but on July 4 weekend we probably lost some fans at the end of the race because they thought with a caution with 3 to go the race was over. I would have liked to have heard something to the effect of "and now a green-white-checker finish" or "and now NASCAR's version of overtime."

I hope the viewers of whatever show came on after the race were watching the race otherwise they missed the first 10 minutes. Would rather have had the post-race coverage go up to the 11:00 ET window.

One final problem with the broadcast-I only found out where Earnhardt Jr. finished during the post-race run down. No interview until I turned over to SportsCenter. Maybe he was getting checked out, but as popular as he was I would have liked to have seen an interview.

TNT just showed how awesome a nascar racing broadcast could be. The camera work was superb! They did not jump around every half second, they were zoomed out enough to show lots of cars, even the cams were used well, they would follow the cars around the track much like I would if I was there. Thank you so much to everyone involved with the camera work! The "wide open coverage" was also so well done. To have the entire tv screen continue to show the race like normal, and to have a box overlaid at the bottom for the commercial, was just great. fox should not even show their faces with that embarassing thing they called side by side. Personnally, I love the style of TNT's booth and I believe Kyle in no way was dishing the #51's sponsor. He would never, ever do that. nascar, if they really cared about the media viewing fans, should take that broadcast and tell fox and espn either show it like this or we do not want you - I know, fat chance on that one. To the whole TNT staff, I want to personally say you did a great job, thank you to all the companies that agreed that their commercials could be shown in the "wide open coverage" format, thank you Coke for your backing, and a BIG THANK YOU to TNT's management for having the mindset and guts to reach for perfection. You just showed how absolutely pitiful espn's, fox's, and nascar's managements are when it comes to broadcasting a nascar race. MC

I thought that this was the worst of the TNT broadcasts. The production truck seemed obsessed with the top 10. Good luck following anyone else. I wasn't the least bit impressed with Wally and Kyle. By the way, what's up with Mark Martin who's been involved in three skirmishes this year? I thought the reporting was half-azzed. Did anyone talk to the #2 team to find out how Trevor Bayne got turned? How about talking to the Biffle team about Edwards getting turned? How about Vickers team when he drifted up and turned Kahne? These folks operate like a bunch of amateurs. Even if emotions are high and people won't cooperate, there's always the radio traffic. Did anyone bother to follow up or didn't they want to interrupt Petty as he flapped his jaws for five laps about whichever idle thought crossed his mind? Great news for David Reagan. With the UPS sponsorship up for renewal and Bayne/Stenhouse nipping at David's heels, the #6 needed all the help it could get. Thanks JD, for all you did. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Holiday!

I enjoyed the broadcast. The combination of RaceBuddy and Wide Open Coverage made for a great race. Only wish that AB was doing pxp. Liked the new running order display. Not sure how the chopped up screen looked for folks with small TVs but it looked great on my HDTV.This style of showing ads was way better than any other. I even watched most of the ads!

Both Landon Cassill and Andy Lally both had good runs Saturday night. Actually, Cassill has had two good races in a row. You'd think the TV and other media folks would give them some publicity. Apparently they don't believe so.

Really disappointed with coverage. Can't just blame Adam either. All three were definitely not at the top of their game. Kept losing track of stories. For example, Carl Edwards. Was he o.k.? Did he expire from carbon monoxide poisoning?

Also found commercials distracting even when sharing screen with race. If anything, there seemed to be more than usual.

Hate to be so negative. TNT is usually my favorite of the NASCAR broadcast partners

1. Please tell us that you only plan 15 minutes or so of post race coverage no matter the length of the scheduled TV window. Considering the commercials I see when signing on to race buddy, I guess you need viewers for those online advertisers.

2. I would really like to know if part of the agreement with the advertisers for wide open coverage is for some sort of consideration, either price, or commercial time for the other TNT races. If wide open coverage really worked, why would that be necessary, and only limit it to a single race?

well, I was out to dinner with NO TV access for most of the race, so I missed the first 3 quarters of the race and only saw the end when as usual, it became the crapshoot that RP races always are.

Congrats to David Ragan. I was happy to see him win.

thanks again to TNT and the sponsors who make the wide open coverage available.

I truly hate the multiple GWC rule. It's stupid and doesn't so much produce exciting finishes as screwed up finishes - although I was very happy that my favorite driver finished in the top 10 after that spectacular save! And to booth, he and KyBu worked together to get back to the front on that final GWC. Pretty amazing.

For me, TNT is still the best of the 3 broadcasts - IMO AA just doesn't cut it for a PXP guy - put Ralph back in the booth, just like Bestwick should be in for ESPN.

I can't remember when I enjoyed a race as much as I enjoyed the Coke Zero 400!

Absolutely LOVED the way the commercials were shown, and more to the point, I watched them all. I only left the television when there was no racing on the set.

I listen to the race broadcast in tandem with the in-car audio of the 4 car, so I am not as focused on the specifics of the broadcast team although I really enjoy Kyle Petty. He shoots straight and doesn't toe the NASCAR line. I was a bit confused about the 48 pitting, though. Then again, so was Junior!

The camera work was beautiful, but then Kasey was in the lead a lot and that meant he was on camera a lot ;)

Basically, I had fun watching the race yesterday. That was a close to perfect a production as I've seen in my 4.5 years of NASCAR fandom and Fox and ESPN should be taking notes!

First...I hate this "racing". Can't believe Carl Edwards said he liked it and NASCAR needs to do a better job of explaining it. Sorry Carl, I understand it perfectly and still hate it. If it wasn't for the ability to listen to 48/88 scanner on HotPass not sure I would have watched the whole race...and that would have been a first. The scanner conversations between drivers are the only part of this racing that is good!

Will we drive 7000 miles round trip and spend a bunch of bucks for the 500 next year? Not sure.

Since I could see the TNT broadcast with HotPass I did like the commercial placement during Wide Open phase. HotPass continued the audio during Wide Open, which was cool. Although I did fast forward through obnoxioux ads :-).

Here is a question that has been bugging me for sometime. Why do the three broadcast entities try to "compete" with each other when in fact they are never competing? They do not ever have races on at the same time or even during the same segment of the season. So, why can't there be some synergy between them and take the best from each other. Point in case would be the running race while airing commercials. Why does Fox have to do "side by side" and TNT "Wide Open"? Have all three use the Wide Open of TNT because it is truly the best, including Versus IndyCar side by side. It just seems silly to try and differentiate something that all three (or 4 with Versus) should be using the best method.

Just as social media and options like RaceBuddy and live streaming are having a huge impact on how we follow our sport and others, the TV industry needs to get with it or they will disappear into oblivion.

Regarding the Wide Open coverage, my wife asked why they don't do that for every race. I said it depends on who you ask.

I thought the broadcast was very good. Some good explanations about the pushing car being to the right of the lead car, how the cooling fans are not metal and could melt from the heat, and the new gauges team use and how they can be programmed to alert a driver at a certain point when the car is getting too hot. We've not heard any of these explained on Fox and they've already had two plate races this year.

The night provided a cavalcade of Wally Dallenbach spouting facts that were objectively, completely wrong, in an authoritative, this-isnt-a-guess voice. "Joey Logano turned Mark Martin." Oh wait, no he didn't. "Kyle Busch can't hook up with Joey Logano," oh wait, that is on purpose. And still... STILL, Wally was the best commentator to listen to in the booth, and that's saying something. It's a testament to Kyle Petty's inability to make a complete sentence, and more importantly, a testament to Adam Alexander's uncanny lack of ability to put anything in perspective or to fill in the blanks.

Why do we have a play by play guy if he's not going to fill in the blanks? I can see what's on the view finder just as good as you Adam.

How laughable was it that all three of these guys stuck with the Hendrick is gonna win narrative virtually ignoring the viability of the front runners all race until it was patently obvious and kudos to Wally for finally realizing it, that Hendrick sucked and was never going to be a contender. (When Hendrick finally did get up there, Gordon and Martin caused the two biggest wrecks, which was largely missed by the crew despite them focussing on Hendrick as they road around out of the picture all night. Also love how Petty calls them "Hendrix," like jimmy hendrix.

My biggest problem with Alexander, in addition to just providing no context about the race Pit road strategies never contextualized.

Time and time again, we'd come out of a yellow and it would take a half a lap before Alexander even noticed someone else had come out ahead of whoever was leading prior to the yellow. Even then when it somehow occurred to Adam that the leaders were different, he NEVER contextualized this for us. Oh, look who's out front now, after all, it's Kevin Harvick, and I guess I'll just leave it to you to guess why!

Enjoyed the h*** out of the wide open coverage. Problem was, the race stunk. TNT needs to find a better PXP guy other than AA. He's screaming the whole time just Like Kenny Wallace on victory lane.If you bought a ticket for that race, you was robbed. Carbon copy of the NNS race.If this is the kind of show Nascar wants, they might as well close up shop. I don't care if there was 250 lead changes.Nascar needs to face up to it. The COT is a POS and a complete failure. They also need to look at giving TNT more races. Their coverage is far superior to FAUX & BSPN. Kyle Petty might not be a Hall of Famer and didn't win a bunch of races, but I prefer him over DW. Yeah, he got off track every now and then, but the race was simply awful. Congrats to David Regan being patient enough to make it to the end.!

This may step on some toes, but Mike Joy, AA,Rick Allen,Bestwick and others all have the same obstacle facing their play by play announcing---they never have competed in a race car. To use a phrase that JD used, some have "good pipes". But a strong voice only gets you so far. Not only do they have no racing experience but they probably couldn't tell the difference between a camshaft and a crankshaft as Ryan MaGhee repeatedly demonstrated a few years ago. With these handicaps, it's exceedingly difficult to assess what's noteworthy during the race. I could go on, but it's best I not. PS - I suspect that if a driver other than Junior criticized plate racing as Junior did, he'd be looking at a huge double-secret fine ala Newman(2X) and Hamlin.

Does anyone think there will be a NASCAR backlash, or some trouble for Ralph Sheheen with regards to his reporting of the "Hendrick team orders", to get Mark Martin the win, regardless of the consequences? Considering that something like this is something NASCAR always wants to stop from being broadcast, I'd be surprised if he didn't get a call from Helton telling Ralph to either retract these comments as false, or telling him to keep his mouth shut.

Actually that's only partially true. Mike Joy has competed in the Rolex 24 Hour race at Daytona in 1993. As well as various other touring car and SCCA events. He's also tested Cup, Truck and Modified vehicles as well as being a classic car junkie and been a pit reporter for years with CBS so I'm sure his technical expertise is fine. Just as I'm sure the rest of them are fairly tech savvy as well. Also with that being said it's rare that a Play by Play announcer has competed in the sport they are covering, they aren't there to offer analysis. They are there to direct traffic, call the action as it happens, and get the most knowledge possible out of their analysts. They are the "What" while the analysts are the "why" and "how". Which Rick, Mike and Allen all do very well.

To anon 8:01 pm-- You missed my point. I HAVE listened to them. They've repeatedly shown me that they are lacking technically. I've raced cars and built them including the engines myself. Of all the names I've listed, Mike Joy is probably at the top of the list for making technically inaccurate comments. I'm just really tired of listening to people getting paid a lot of money to say some goofy things. A perfect example are the things Wally Dallenbach said Saturday night about Mark Martin and then the Logano/Kyle Busch drafting situation. It happens all the time.

What a great way to watch a race! I really enjoyed the Wide Open Coverage, Thanks TNT! I just went out and bought some Coors to thank them. I do not understand why there was a third of the screen that was not being used for racing, instead of some goofy art work spinning around? I loved the way the camera showed things from a wide view! I thought the overhead shot on the restarts could have been used more. All in All, I enjoyed the way the race was shown. However, I do not understand why AA is calling the PxP? His talents are better used as a pit reporter. The lead analysis should lead and the color commentators should fill in the technology and story lines. I only wish all the booth folks would remember to finish their thoughts when they start telling us a five minute story and then the on track action causing them to stop or another booth person interrupts them and you never hear the punch line or the point the commentator is trying to to make!

I wish we had one lead and two "color commentators" that stay in the booth for cup races instead of the musical chair approach being used now! There is no continuity from week to week and I want the racing to give me the difference, be it the track or the changes in the sport. The booth team should be fun to listen to without becoming the "show", Their job is to enhance the coverage not become the coverage! I think that Ricky Craven is the most articulate and knowledgeable person NOT being used to his potential! His insight and perspective of unbiased coverage, plus his relationship with the competitors and his creditability are my model for a guy who should be the "FACE OF NASCAR", good for the sport good for the fans and the guy promotes NASCAR without the baggage of trying to sell you on himself!

My greatest desire would be to see NASCAR step up and require this type of coverage for ALL its races. If there is one complaint I have about the current management is their apparent lack of caring about the loyal viewer who watches NASCAR with a passion and a desire to be treated as a person who possesses an education above the Fifth Grade! Larry is a classic example of having a person in a prominent position with a complete lack of ability to speak above the level of an uneducated person. He destroys the English language and you have to wonder would you like your children to talk like him? Then what the heck is he doing, the guy does not even try to get better, it the same old same ol'!

That being said, I have to finish by saying it is a pleasure to watch racing without the camera making me dizzy and the booth being way behind the pictures being sent to my set. I like the visuals to stay up with the on track action and I hate it when the racing interrupts some stupid story from thirty years ago that has nothing to do with todays NASCAR. I only hope they figure it out before it is too late! If ESPN thinks they can come in and totally disrespect the sport, the fans are going to turn off the broadcasts and fire up the radio!

Must say that I look forward to this race each year with its wide open concept. I like not having to flip channels on commercials.

I like the announcers for the most part..but I must say taht they are quick to assign blame to the other driver for "causing" accidents. How about getting some information from the pit reporters and, oh I don't know, being objective? We get it that Dallyenback and Petty don't necessarily like Kez, I didn't realize that they had a window into his motives. However, they are quick to point out that Mark Martin was the victim of the crash, while negelecting to report that Mr. Martin has a tendancy to cause crashes deliberately in the final laps. A bit less bias would be nice. FYI: I thought that DW was back in the booth when Petty and Dallenbach did that. I do expect better from them. Loved the part where Shaheen reported the HMS team orders! Funny! Too bad that HMS didn't tell Letarte or JR that they aren't part of the winning HMS teams! Funny than heck when J.J. and Chad made the call to hang out JR. Nice teammates that JR has there. If JR is seriously thinking about resigning with HMS, he should remember how bad he sucked back in 2009 and 2010. There is only one team at HMS and that is the 48. The 88 is the cash cow that keeps the 48 going. That was worth a huge follow up that TNT did not provide. However, overall I have to give them a b for this broadcast. Good, but still could use some improvements.